Your Consultative Committee on Staff Benefits has approved a cost of living increase for CBC employees on Long-Term Disability who do not already qualify for an automatic increase to cover inflation.

All members on LTD as of Dec. 31, 2017 will receive a 1.4% increase effective Jan. 1, 2018. The ad hoc increase approved by the CCSB at its December meeting applies to employees who became disabled between July 1, 2002 and Dec. 31, 2016. People who’ve been on LTD since before 2002 receive automatic inflation protection.

Money to cover the special cost of living increase will come from a surplus in the LTD fund.

Since September 2015, the CCSB also has used money from the surplus to temporarily reduce our LTD premiums by 0.266 per cent. That means 1.234% of base pay is deduct from you pay rather than the full 1.5% premium for LTD. We will be reviewing the premiums and subsidies next year.

Support available for location units’ wellness projects – Guideline review
The CCSB has decided to update the guidelines for members in location units who want to set up local wellness initiatives. The CCSB has funds available for relatively inexpensive local projects that are employee-driven in the workplace. For example, in the past we’ve helped some locations buy exercise mats so that CBC employees can have a workout at lunchtime. While funds are available, it’s been some time since we’ve reminded location units about the assistance or looked at how to make it more easily accessible to them. We’ll provide an update when the guidelines are ready.

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A word on CBC’s Supplemental Health Plan
During the December meeting, the CCSB also reviewed how the CBC’s Supplemental Health Plan was utilized during 2016. We didn’t get too far into the nitty gritty details, but the plan paid out more than $19 million in claims last year, and that doesn’t include administrative costs and taxes. According to Great West Life’s figures, the average amount paid to employees came to $2,466 last year compared to $2,170 in 2014. Drug claims were the biggest cost, followed by psychological and physiotherapy services.

We’ve been advocating for improvements in our coverage, but you won’t be surprised that the CBC is not interested in anything that would result in higher costs. This is something we will continue to pursue on behalf of our members.